Nigerians should make devolution an issue on the ballot in 2027 - AGBAKOBA

Thursday, October 23, 2025 - Presidential candidates for 2027 election should make devolution a priority for them to command voter acceptability, legal luminary Dr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) said yesterday.

Apart from restructuring, he said the electorate should elicit cogent promise from them on the need for a new constitution, state police with operational independence, resource control with minimum 50 per cent derivation, implementation of the Oronsanye report on the merger or scrapping of 541 agencies, and divestment from all commercial enterprises by government.

Agbakoba also said the candidates should demonstrate commitment towards maritime and aviation sector legislative reforms, justice sector transformation for contract enforcement, critical minerals and space industry development, and agricultural transformation unlocking N15 trillion exports.

He told reporters in Lagos that the anticipatory elements of devolution and restructuring should be closely associated with regionalism.

Noting that the Federal Government is overwhelmed, Agbakoba wondered why a single person – the minister of works – should be the one to build all roads in Nigeria.

He said: “We should make devolution an issue on the ballot in 2027. We should ask the candidates what is your agenda for devolution.”

The eminent lawyer recalled that during the 2014 National Conference in Abuja, the delegates agreed that the country was a 20-storey building with a shaky foundation, adding that it was discovered that 26 states could not economically survive.

Emphasizing that regionalism is the answer, Agbakoba said Premier Obafemi Awolowo ran the defunct Western Region better than what the six governors are currently doing.

He said the electioneering is on without the big elephant in the room being confronted, insisting that the big elephant is restructuring or devolution.

Agbakoba said the macro-economic stability being projected by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Federal Ministry of Finance has not led to a big relief for the masses in terms of real price reduction.